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Sep 26, 2018

CFTC Orders an Iowa Introducing Broker and Its Principals to Pay $11.9 Million in Restitution to Farmers and a $1.25 Million Civil Monetary Penalty for Fraud, Unauthorized Trading, and False Statements to the CME, Among Other Violations I CFTC

Farmers in Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota Harmed

Washington, DC — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Kooima & Kaemingk Commodities, Inc. (K&K), Lauren Kaemingk (Kaemingk), and Bradley Kooima (Kooima),
all of Iowa, for Kaemingk’s fraud, unauthorized trading, and making
false or misleading statements to CME Group Inc. (CME), for a former
employee’s fraud, unauthorized trading, and violation of CME position
limits in live cattle futures contracts, and for K&K’s, Kaemingk’s,
and Kooima’s supervision failures. The CFTC Order requires K&K,
Kaemingk, and Kooima to pay $11,920,857.05 in restitution to their
customers, which are almost entirely comprised of individual farmers and
large-scale farming operations. The Order also requires K&K,
Kaemingk, and Kooima to pay a civil monetary penalty of $1,250,000 and
orders that they cease and desist from further violations of the
Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, as charged. CFTC’s Director of Enforcement Comments
James McDonald, CFTC Director of
Enforcement, stated: “Many farmers depend on the futures markets to help
protect their operations from financial uncertainty. Those farmers
should be able to trust that their Introducing Broker will deal with
them honestly. Brokers are also expected to respond truthfully and
completely to CME and other exchanges when misconduct is being
investigated. When brokers defraud their customers and then seek to
cover it up — as in this case — the Commission will vigorously pursue
them.”
As noted in the Order, K&K
fraudulently solicited customers and opened investment accounts for
certain customers beginning around January 2012. Further, the Order
finds that, between January 2012 and February 2016, K&K, through two
of its associated persons, a former employee and Kaemingk, defrauded
customers by its unauthorized trading, which caused net customer losses
of approximately $11.9 million.
Further, the Order finds that when the
CME opened an investigation into the former employee’s position-limit
violation, K&K, through Kaemingk, engaged in a cover-up to conceal
the scope of the unauthorized trading at K&K. Kaemingk encouraged a
customer to withhold information from CME during its investigation.
Kaemingk also made misleading statements to CME during an interview.
Today, CME issued a Notice of
Disciplinary Action in which K&K, Kaemingk, and Kooima agreed to pay
a fine of $1.25 million arising out of the conduct that is the subject
of the CFTC’s Order. In imposing its civil monetary penalty, the CFTC
took into account the fine imposed by CME in its related action. The
CFTC thanks CME for its assistance.
The CFTC also thanks National Futures Association for its assistance in this matter.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff
members responsible for this case are Nicholas Sloey, Elsie Robinson,
Lauren Fulks, Peter Riggs, James Humphrey, Jeff Le Riche, Chris Reed,
and Charles Marvine.

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FRAUDE DE LOS BANCOS-PERÚ

If you are are investigating a fraud case and need to contact MasterCard to assist with the investigation. Who can we speak with?

A: Please send an email to our Law Enforcement Support Center at Law_Enforcement_Support@mastercard.com, or call 1-866-308-7272 (U.S. & Canada) or 1-636-722-4046 (International). We will respond to your inquiry within 24-48 hours.